Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 16) — The country being granted the Tier 1 ranking in the 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report improves how other nations perceive the Philippines when it comes to addressing the problem of human exploitation, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said.
“It’s a source of comfort for those who want to reach out to us,” DMW Sec. Toots Ople told CNN Philippines’ The Source on Friday.
“The first world countries, they feel confident in dealing with us kasi alam nila (because they know) we will not tolerate any shenanigans that would lead to the exploitation of our migrant workers,” she said.
For the eighth consecutive year, the Philippines maintained its spot as one of the countries that earned the Tier 1 ranking in the annual report issued by the U.S. State Department.
The State Department noted that being in the highest rank does not mean that there is no human trafficking problem in a country.
It indicates that authorities made efforts to address the issue that meet the minimum standards of the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, it noted.
“We should all be extremely happy and celebrate this remarkable feat because eight years in succession,” Ople said.
She also emphasized that the Philippines and Singapore are the only ASEAN countries that landed in the Tier 1 ranking.
“That shows a strong commitment and consistent performance on the part of the Philippine government, civil society and all our partners,” Ople also said.
One of the human trafficking tactics noted in the report was the hiring of English-proficient East African and Asian workers who are being promised employment supposedly in Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos.
“Upon arrival, victims are transported to large compounds, known as ‘scam factories,’ located in Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, and the Philippines, where their passports are confiscated and they are subjected to physical and sexual violence,\” the report read.
\”Traffickers force victims to defraud strangers in online cryptocurrency and romance scams and illegal gambling operations,” it also read.
In the Philippines, the matter was first raised by Senator Risa Hontiveros.
